bike culture blogged

Check this video for a sampling of what the bike industry rides. From the high to the low end, cruisers, a tall bike, and BMX was all in the bike check room during Interbike. Many considered that room the *other bike show.”

Shop bikes are usually some unique combination built from the back room, found in a parts bin, with an old frame, solid wheels, and various gadgets. For a time, I didn’t ride a bike that wasn’t equipped with at least one Sun Tour part.

So what do you ride? How do you roll? What’s the favorite bike you’ve built up?

My favorite bike hands down is my LHT. It goes almost everywhere, and hauls tons of stuff while doing so. I’d guess that half of my miles this year have been on that bike, sadly too few of them with a gallon of beer up front ready for pouring.

For the few places it doesn’t go, I have a Pugsley - and that baby will ride on anything.

Except airplanes. So I’m building up a fixed folder, based on a Swift Folder. I’ve been borrowing Alex’s (now Larry’s, I think)
a bit and it’s a pretty rigid design, if not the most compact.

I think that is the new new. I talked with Dahon about it when we visited them. They’ve done single speeds, but aren’t convinced of a market for fixed. Soon I travel all over with the Modal and report. Most of those trips are in Single Speed Mode.

My daily ride sadly just got crashed. I was rolling down Stone Way on Monday when a car rolled a red light at Bridge. I had nowhere to go except in his fender. Fortunately he stopped, so I didn’t get skipped off his fender. Fortunately I had enough time to shave some speed. I’m SOOOOOO glad I got the disc brakes installed 2 months ago. It was wet and windy on Monday morning. The discs probably saved me some more pain.

The other party was a nice guy…admitted he was at fault, provided me with insurance info, and gave me a ride back up the hill to my house. He wasn’t from Seattle and didn’t know the area very well. That’s life.

My fork took the brunt of the damage. The newly built front wheel (DT TK rims on Phil Wood hubs) took the rest. The frame came out pretty much unscathed. I suffered minor bruises and soft tissue injuries.

Is it me or is the road rage HORRIBLE the last two weeks? I got honked at right before the accident and also on Friday. I’ve heard so much honking and yelling in traffic recently, both on the bike and driving around.

Yeah…that’s the controversial Ti fork. I would have to credit the fork with saving the frame though. It took almost all the damage and the frame appears to still be aligned. That said, the next fork will probably be steel only because the ti fork was such a noodle when I had the bike loaded down with 4 panniers full of groceries.

I’m thinking about not commuting until after the holiday season is over. I would imagine the road rage to only get worse with the holiday season approaching. Seems like everyone I talk to has a story about bad traffic experiences in the last few weeks.

A guy rolled up to me at a Red light last night. It was an intersection that cyclists commonly blow through since there is rarely cross traffic. Anyway, the guy rolls down his window to thank me for being a “good cyclist” and following the law. See! They can be nice!